Abstract The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of enriched energy density and visual topping on maize soup’s intake, overall liking, taste liking, food-evoked emotion and perceived familiarity among older home-dwelling people. This study consisted of two tests: in the first test, the most appetising soup was chosen from six high-energy soups topped with different condiments by testing participants’ rankings based only on appearance; while in the second test, participants tasted the most visually appealing maize soup (high-energy maize soup topped with parsley), as well as topping-free high-energy maize soup and low-energy maize soup. Enriched energy density significantly increased the energy intake of maize soup, and visual topping significantly increased both the weighed intake and energy intake of high-energy maize soup. A combined sensory dimension modification of maize soup by enriching energy density and adding visual topping positively affected weighed intake, energy intake, overall liking and food-evoked emotion of maize soup. Slight changes of meal appearance by adding visually appetising toppings could be an effective method to encourage older consumers’ food consumption. In addition, combined sensory enhancement for food could have synergetic effect on older people’s food consumption and eating experience.